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Of all the sounds to come drifting through my car radio in
the past few months, only one made me reach for the volume
control: the unmistakable voice of Ian Astbury. "Rise,"
the first single off of the Cult's new album, is like the
badass stepchild of the classic 1985 Love album, with a spiraling
electric guitar line, huge chorus, and the unadulterated ideals
of rock 'n' roll stamped like tattoos on each lean-muscled
forearm. After a seven year hiatus that has seen mainstream
rock go the way of the backwards baseball cap, "Rise"
is a bright streak of red in the black hole of modern rock
radio - a sleek song that uplifts even as it's kicking your
ass to the curb old-school style. Who knew that a breath of
fresh air was going to come from 20-year veterans of rock
who were alternative before 'alternative' was even a catchphrase?
Three words for the Ross Robinson generation: She. Sells.
Sanctuary. This song alone could stand as testament to the
Cult's legacy - big guitars, big vocals, big ideals, and a
healthy dose of sex with as few words as possible; and it
sounds just as good now as it did sixteen years ago.
Thankfully, Duffy and Astbury aren't content to let a car
commercial introduce them to a new generation of fans who
were in the early stages of fetus-hood in '85. So lifting
a title from Nietzsche and drawing ex-Guns 'n' Roses drummer
Matt Sorum back into the fold, the band has released their
seventh studio album, Beyond Good and Evil, and it is easily
the heaviest Cult record to date. "Beyond…"
pulsates with the bombast of 1989's Sonic Temple, but whereas
Temple had the feel of a larger-than-life, open-aired vista
of sound, "Beyond…" moves like a black tsunami,
thanks in large part to the monstrous guitar work of Billy
Duffy and a near-tribal rhythm section that evokes the band's
Death Cult/Dreamtime era in all of its shamanistic glory.
Anchoring the mix is the charismatic Astbury, who still sports
the pipes of a horny god on a serious mission to put his boot
square in the seat of your pants. The album is twelve tracks
of martyr-posing, passion-inciting, flag-waving rock put through
the millennial blender, and it's entertaining as bloody hell.
This may be the first Cult album where the two polarities
of Duffy (bleach-blond rough 'n' tumble axe-man) and Astbury
(raven-haired rock mystic) aren't fighting for dominance,
though saying they've found a middle ground would be implying
a compromise. Hardly the case. This is a punishing album -
a non-stop tank engine of sound from start to finish, with
one brief hiccup in the middle named "Nico," which
is more or less the weakest track by default. (We won't get
into the semantics of which Warholian ode is better - "Edie"
or "Nico" - because, really, it's no contest. Ciao,
baby.) Opener "War (The Process)" grinds like a
well-oiled machine coming to life and features the audacious
order to "drop your front, baby, obey my command,"
while "The Saint" picks you up by the scruff of
the neck and propels you forward on a huge wall of static-electric
guitar noise tailor-made for live performance. "Breathe"
and "Ashes and Ghosts" (along with "Rise")
are enormous in scope and the band pulls out all of the stops,
milking the loud-quiet dynamic for every ounce of its worth.
"Speed of Light" easily holds up against any rock
anthem currently cluttering the airwaves, but has the strength
of Astbury's vocal channeling of three distinct personalities
at once. He sings with a vigor on this record that puts vocalists
half his age to absolute shame. While Scott Stapp continues
to work on his Eddie Vedder imitation, Astbury goes back to
the source (Jim Morrison) and remembers to bring the blues
back with him.
Truth be told, Beyond Good and Evil's soul lies in Astbury,
who yelps and "yeah"s his way through this album
with as much energy as he did on 1987's Electric. The man
sounds as if he's having an absolute blast - just listen to
closer "My Bridges Burn" with its "Be a hero,
a sex pistol, a guitar hero" mantra. This song should
be a staple of all future Cult live shows as it is a certifiable
rouser and captures perfectly the energy this band projects.
Producer Bob Rock may have decked them out in (sometimes unnecessary)
bells and whistles this time around - his hand tends to weigh
heavy on the overdubs and vocal effects, managing to obscure
Astbury's vocals and dull Sorum's drums - but accusing the
Cult of clambering for a piece of the nü-metal pie is
missing the point entirely. The difference between this band
and those other guys lies in the spirit of these songs rather
than the presentation. What makes this record worthy of note
is its cohesiveness. Never once is there any doubt that this
is a Cult record. While many other bands in the Cult's position
have sacrificed their heart and soul for another shot at glory
(and therefore any sense of what made them good in the first
place), there is a definite comfort in the fact that Billy
Duffy still wants to be a guitar hero and Ian Astbury can
still write a song as unabashedly optimistic as "True
Believers." You may have dismissed the Cult after they
scrapped their gothic-psychedelic leanings back in the mid-80s,
but you can't deny that they've thrown themselves into each
era of their existence with a dedication few bands can claim
(especially in the face of intense critical ridicule).
This band has always been criticized for its arena-sized
aspirations and Astbury's perceived naivety and self-importance,
and I say "So what?" So what if Astbury believes
his band can save rock music? So what if Duffy indulges in
guitar pyrotechnics? So what if Rick Rubin "ruined"
them, and if Ian's got short hair, and they've covered a Dianne
Warren song? When's the last time you rolled down your car
windows and blasted a record because you were into it and
not because you wanted the guy beside you in traffic to know
what cool music taste you have? Sometimes rock should be purely
visceral, going straight to the gut, free of McAngst and superfluous,
meaningless expletives. And if rock needs a few "mamas"
and a tambourine to get there, so be it.
— Heather Space
Track Listing:
01. War (The Process)
02. The Saint
03. Rise
04. Take the Power
05. Breathe
06. Nico
07. American Gothic
08. Ashes and Ghosts
09. Shape the Sky
10. Speed of Light
11. True Believers
12. My Bridges Burn
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